Image Mapping Workshop delivered by Bournemouth University

This Wednesday I took part in a workshop put on by Bournemouth University to teach a group of GCSE and A level art students how to use an image mapping software. Around 16 students from different year groups were involved in this session. This is in preparation for participation for the Light up Poole event happening in February. Bournemouth University kindly sent over several laptops and projectors for us to practise using the software alongside a representative of the renowned artist group, Squidsoup who have done many installations using this technology all over the world. The person running it, Liam Birtles, showed us how to project shapes and moving imagery onto objects. For example, my group which consisted of me, Logan Wilton, Daniel Scott and Harrison Foot were projecting movie clips onto a Mannequin. Other groups projected Gif’s onto other canvases such as Stacks of square blocks placed stuck together. The software was easy to get the hang of and with the help of Liam, managed to use more advanced effects such as combining moving imagery with a live camera feed. There are many more features which can be achieved such as using timers, multiple projectors and synchronised sound clips to create really intricate displays. You can even put python code into the software to make displays interactive and respond to your movement and touch. For example, Liam alongside Squidsoup, recently created a light display at Salisbury Cathedral where moving balls of light moved and made sounds in response to sound created by nearby people.

As a school, we hope to use this software to create an art feature in the Light up Poole event hosted throughout Poole and in the Lighthouse theatre using the theme of Tides. This is a great opportunity and will help those who take part with their coursework and CV’s. Hopefully Bournemouth University will be able to help us further by lending us some more projectors for use at the festival.